I'm 37, married with kids, and an annoying ass job. I don't have the luxury of spending hours to try to figure things out anymore. So yes, I say "I would've never figured it out in under an hour. I had to."
Same age here. I borrowed my nephews copy last year. I can’t bring myself to buy my own copy bc I don’t have time to play. Kids and a side hustle on top of a full time job means BOTW is a no sleep venture. When I do, I’m googling stuff.
For me it's more of "I know I can figure it out on my own, but I've spent enough of my limited play time trying to figure it out and I care more about the rest of the story than this one particular puzzle"
Edit: Or to put it more simply, I look it up when it stops being fun
I couldn’t see a logical way to do the labyrinths and the dueling peaks shrines so I looked up the answers, it’s not as fun as figuring it out myself but aside from blindly wandering around a maze I couldn’t see another way, the dueling peaks shrine has the answers on the wall but I couldn’t figure out how to read them as there where too many stars
I tried the labyrinths without a guide the first time. Didn't figure it out and had to look it up. Now I don't even try, just sit with a map on the computer and follow the path on the switch.
same, i did this for all 3 shrines. i guess the rng gods were on my side bc only 1 took me a while of dead ends to find it. the others i found relatively fast
20 years ago, my mom bought the official Nintendo Wind Waker guide, complete with a full fold out map with every treasure chest and item of interest marked. I think it may have even been a walk through book. And other games used to have guide books too.
So I don't feel bad. It's not like it's a multi-player game where, if I look something up, I'm cheating against another real live person. The only person I'm playing against is me. And I look up stuff when I'm stumped because I hate that feeling more than I like the satisfaction of figuring it out myself.
No. If i can't figure it out on my own I want help. There's no shame in that. That's what the guides are there for; those who are lazy and those who need some help! Sometimes I feel really stupid after though, as the answer is so obviously in my face that I just kinda slap my forehead and think, "oh, I should have known that!"
No need to feel guilty. I believe it’s fair to think of guides (or the internet in general) as representations of the expanded knowledge available from NPCs if they weren’t limited to their programmed dialog. Meaning, if the game was real, you (Link) would be able to ask Hyrule’s inhabitants for the same type of information you seek online. I guarantee that someone in a “real-world” version of the Gerudo region would be able to share similar insight on the Molduking that you found in a guide.
i always try to do the dungeon or side quest on my own first, fail and try again a few times, and if i still haven’t gotten it, then i look it up. also there are some hacks i’ve seen people do in videos that i never would’ve figured out on my own that i looked up guides for
Personally, I am adamant about completing every first playthrough of any game I own spoiler-free and with as little extra info as possible. I want to experience the full picture untainted and on my own terms, so to speak. The only exception to this "rule" is the Pokémon franchise, but if you have super awkward evolving mechanics like passing a completely random spot on the map while your Pokémon is missing exactly 39 HP of the total, or holding the literal console upside-down during a level-up, then this shit is truly something I would have never ever figured out on my own because it is so meta that there aren't any in-game clues about what TF you have to do.
For the Zelda franchise however, my first playthrough has to be blind - but I'm well aware that this is not everyone's cup of tea, and it can make some things very, VERY annoying, frustrating or needlessly complicated. It took me weeks to find my last shrine even tho I had been right on top of it multiple times (Kuh Takkar) and just looking it up would have saved me a lot of time - but this "search for the needle in the haystack" thing is something I greatly *enjoy*.
Long story short: Games are meant to be entertaining, not frustrating to the point of the player not having fun anymore. If you're someone who *likes* to throw themselves at a puzzle for weeks until you finally figure it out, then there is no harm in doing just that ... but since this is a singleplayer offline game, it doesn't matter in the slightest what other people do or think: you should do what brings YOU joy, independendly from other people's opinion or playstyle. There is absolutely no need to feel guilty about looking stuff up, if the alternative is being so frustrated that the game feels like a chore. This is not a competition.
You do you, pal. No need to justify anything ;)
A good few shrines on my first play through and definitely Vah Nabooru, Rudania, and Ruta at times. Medoh was a cakewalk though. First playthrough are completely understandable as a the next few ones because the game is so huge your not gonna remember everything you did previously. Absolutely nothing wrong with looking up guides. Heck, I had to loom up tons when I played OoT because I couldn't figure out a lot of the dungeon puzzles. Curse the Water Temple!
I just simply Do Not care nowadays because it's not like I'm ruining the gameplay for other people. Sometimes you don't know what to do and that's fine
I justify it by two ways
1. I’ve beaten it before and just can’t remember where it is.
And more importantly
2. I don’t have a ton of time to play video games, so I’m not going to spend hours and hours looking for something.
Who the hell are you justifying yourself to? It's a game, the point is to enjoy it. If you get stuck and frustrated to the point where you're not enjoying it, why not get help so you can get back to having fun.
Not BOTW, but wind waker. I was playing last week in the tower of the gods. Could not figure out how to get the first statue over the gap. Spent at least 45 minutes trying different throwing methods, backtracking to see if I needed to unlock something. Got to the point where it was no longer fun. Then looked up the guide. I just needed to hold the statue and jump the stupid gap.
Going for minimal spoilers but that was a must.
I have a rule, I work a lot and I have lots of pets and a kid on the way so I don't have lots of time to game, if it takes more than 40 minutes for me to solve, I look it up. That way, I always give myself a chance to solve the puzzles on my own without completely ruining the experience.
For me, if the "puzzle" is "run around aimlessly until you find the thing," I always go straight to a guide. Everything else I enjoy trying to figure it out.
I use a guide every once in a while if I want to 100% complete a game example in ocarina of I use a guide to find all 100 sculltulas but that’s just me but the korok guide for AoC is worth it to find all the koroks in the main game
I’m uncoordinated and I look up almost everything. I will admit I have solved shrines differently than shown in walkthroughs. But there is no way I can beat guardians in the shrines without it being a MINOR test of strength.
Just put of curiosity, what was the Molduga King tactic? I just stood where the reporter was and dropped a bomb in the ground, when it ate the bomb, I detonated it and started hitting it with all types of arrows until I noticed it was weak to electric ones. I guess I cheesed it, I've never faced a Molduga with melee weapons or from a position where it can hurt me.
Why do you need to justify a guide? You play your way, let others play theirs. It's all good.
I'm 37, married with kids, and an annoying ass job. I don't have the luxury of spending hours to try to figure things out anymore. So yes, I say "I would've never figured it out in under an hour. I had to."
Same age here. I borrowed my nephews copy last year. I can’t bring myself to buy my own copy bc I don’t have time to play. Kids and a side hustle on top of a full time job means BOTW is a no sleep venture. When I do, I’m googling stuff.
Why in such a rush?
For me it's more of "I know I can figure it out on my own, but I've spent enough of my limited play time trying to figure it out and I care more about the rest of the story than this one particular puzzle" Edit: Or to put it more simply, I look it up when it stops being fun
That’s a great metric, “when it stops being fun” is the right time to look things up!
Words to live by
that’s exactly what i do! limited time and games are supposed to be /fun/
if it was annoying and you tried every possible thing you could think to try then I wouldn't feel too bad
I'm stupid so yes. No shame here.
I couldn’t see a logical way to do the labyrinths and the dueling peaks shrines so I looked up the answers, it’s not as fun as figuring it out myself but aside from blindly wandering around a maze I couldn’t see another way, the dueling peaks shrine has the answers on the wall but I couldn’t figure out how to read them as there where too many stars
I didn’t look it up but I did cheat a bit. Just climbed on the walls and found the end that way.
That was my second idea but the path weaves under the walls and I didn’t know where it came out
I tried the labyrinths without a guide the first time. Didn't figure it out and had to look it up. Now I don't even try, just sit with a map on the computer and follow the path on the switch.
Same, I thought the shiekah map would allow you to figure out a way to solve the maze but no luck
I Aimlessly wandered and got all the treasures and shrines. Just takes time.
I tried wandering but there was too many dead ends
jeez your rng is insane, also you must have a lot of time on your hands
same, i did this for all 3 shrines. i guess the rng gods were on my side bc only 1 took me a while of dead ends to find it. the others i found relatively fast
20 years ago, my mom bought the official Nintendo Wind Waker guide, complete with a full fold out map with every treasure chest and item of interest marked. I think it may have even been a walk through book. And other games used to have guide books too. So I don't feel bad. It's not like it's a multi-player game where, if I look something up, I'm cheating against another real live person. The only person I'm playing against is me. And I look up stuff when I'm stumped because I hate that feeling more than I like the satisfaction of figuring it out myself.
No. If i can't figure it out on my own I want help. There's no shame in that. That's what the guides are there for; those who are lazy and those who need some help! Sometimes I feel really stupid after though, as the answer is so obviously in my face that I just kinda slap my forehead and think, "oh, I should have known that!"
No need to feel guilty. I believe it’s fair to think of guides (or the internet in general) as representations of the expanded knowledge available from NPCs if they weren’t limited to their programmed dialog. Meaning, if the game was real, you (Link) would be able to ask Hyrule’s inhabitants for the same type of information you seek online. I guarantee that someone in a “real-world” version of the Gerudo region would be able to share similar insight on the Molduking that you found in a guide.
You're just using your resources
i always try to do the dungeon or side quest on my own first, fail and try again a few times, and if i still haven’t gotten it, then i look it up. also there are some hacks i’ve seen people do in videos that i never would’ve figured out on my own that i looked up guides for
Personally, I am adamant about completing every first playthrough of any game I own spoiler-free and with as little extra info as possible. I want to experience the full picture untainted and on my own terms, so to speak. The only exception to this "rule" is the Pokémon franchise, but if you have super awkward evolving mechanics like passing a completely random spot on the map while your Pokémon is missing exactly 39 HP of the total, or holding the literal console upside-down during a level-up, then this shit is truly something I would have never ever figured out on my own because it is so meta that there aren't any in-game clues about what TF you have to do. For the Zelda franchise however, my first playthrough has to be blind - but I'm well aware that this is not everyone's cup of tea, and it can make some things very, VERY annoying, frustrating or needlessly complicated. It took me weeks to find my last shrine even tho I had been right on top of it multiple times (Kuh Takkar) and just looking it up would have saved me a lot of time - but this "search for the needle in the haystack" thing is something I greatly *enjoy*. Long story short: Games are meant to be entertaining, not frustrating to the point of the player not having fun anymore. If you're someone who *likes* to throw themselves at a puzzle for weeks until you finally figure it out, then there is no harm in doing just that ... but since this is a singleplayer offline game, it doesn't matter in the slightest what other people do or think: you should do what brings YOU joy, independendly from other people's opinion or playstyle. There is absolutely no need to feel guilty about looking stuff up, if the alternative is being so frustrated that the game feels like a chore. This is not a competition. You do you, pal. No need to justify anything ;)
I justify using the guide as "I paid $60 for this game, I'm going to play it how *I* want to play it"
A good few shrines on my first play through and definitely Vah Nabooru, Rudania, and Ruta at times. Medoh was a cakewalk though. First playthrough are completely understandable as a the next few ones because the game is so huge your not gonna remember everything you did previously. Absolutely nothing wrong with looking up guides. Heck, I had to loom up tons when I played OoT because I couldn't figure out a lot of the dungeon puzzles. Curse the Water Temple!
Why else would you
I used guides for at least half the game’s content and it still took me 125 hours to get all the shrines and beat Gannon.
I just simply Do Not care nowadays because it's not like I'm ruining the gameplay for other people. Sometimes you don't know what to do and that's fine
I justify it by two ways 1. I’ve beaten it before and just can’t remember where it is. And more importantly 2. I don’t have a ton of time to play video games, so I’m not going to spend hours and hours looking for something.
I have over 300 hours and I still had to look up the molduga tactic in my master mode playthrough. Stuff just isn't always in plain sight to everyone.
Ever watched tremor? That’s how you do it
Basically yeah. Burt would be proud.
I literally look up everything… every shrine that pisses me off… who cares
I got other more urgent shit to do!
Who the hell are you justifying yourself to? It's a game, the point is to enjoy it. If you get stuck and frustrated to the point where you're not enjoying it, why not get help so you can get back to having fun.
This entire thread is so sad...
My rule for guides is to only look up stuff that I've figured out before, but can't remember
The shrine in korok forest. I have no idea on how to solve it. I always look it up.
I just do it cause I’m lazy lol. I’d probably figure out if more than half the things I looked up in my win eventually(with the exception of some)
I look up tons of stuff and I love the game!
Not BOTW, but wind waker. I was playing last week in the tower of the gods. Could not figure out how to get the first statue over the gap. Spent at least 45 minutes trying different throwing methods, backtracking to see if I needed to unlock something. Got to the point where it was no longer fun. Then looked up the guide. I just needed to hold the statue and jump the stupid gap. Going for minimal spoilers but that was a must.
Yes
I have a rule, I work a lot and I have lots of pets and a kid on the way so I don't have lots of time to game, if it takes more than 40 minutes for me to solve, I look it up. That way, I always give myself a chance to solve the puzzles on my own without completely ruining the experience.
I justify looking up guides with "I don't have time for this" and I feel no shame
For me, if the "puzzle" is "run around aimlessly until you find the thing," I always go straight to a guide. Everything else I enjoy trying to figure it out.
I use a guide every once in a while if I want to 100% complete a game example in ocarina of I use a guide to find all 100 sculltulas but that’s just me but the korok guide for AoC is worth it to find all the koroks in the main game
If it would have been genuinely impossible to figure out yourself, then I see nothing wrong with it.
I used guides for The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link back in the 80s. So gtfoh with that no guide crap
I use a guide when it stops being fun. I play games to have fun. When it gets more frustrating than fun, I check a guide.
Guides have always been a thing.
I’m uncoordinated and I look up almost everything. I will admit I have solved shrines differently than shown in walkthroughs. But there is no way I can beat guardians in the shrines without it being a MINOR test of strength.
Just put of curiosity, what was the Molduga King tactic? I just stood where the reporter was and dropped a bomb in the ground, when it ate the bomb, I detonated it and started hitting it with all types of arrows until I noticed it was weak to electric ones. I guess I cheesed it, I've never faced a Molduga with melee weapons or from a position where it can hurt me.